Originally Posted by
Kevinmalone 
Even now I feel as if a huge part of what makes me who I am is missing.
I still struggle to be more low-key when I interact with people. And so many new friends I've made are amazingly positive toward me after just simple small-talk. I finally realized that most people are naturally kind and positive at their deepest level, and all these masks and shows and "quick-witted one-liners" and other nonsense just hide our true selves. I have to concentrate on sharing my real thoughts versus tweaking what I say to get a specific response from the person. It's getting better, but it still takes effort. I admire more and more the people who can just Be who they are, whatever the situation.
It's amazing how much energy goes into creating some artificial persona that we show the world and hope it tells us we're "ok".